OverviewBased on the popular children's novel of the same name by Wendy Orr, NIM'S ISLAND follows the adventures of Nim Rusoe (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE's Abigail Breslin), a spirited young girl who lives on a remote island with her scientist dad, Jack (300's Gerard Butler), and a host of animal companions, including an iguana, a sea lion, and a sea turtle. Nim's idyllic life gets shaken up, however, when her father goes missing while on an ocean outing. Seeking help to find Jack, Nim contacts her favorite literary hero, explorer Alex Rover (also played by Butler), who, in reality, is uptight--and distinctly unadventurous--author Alexa Rover (Jodie Foster). Against her better judgment, Alexa journeys to Nim's faraway home, setting a series of thrilling and funny moments in motion. Directed and written (in part) by the husband/wife team of Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett, NIM'S ISLAND revels in its fanciful premise, never getting hung up on its unrealistic plot points. (E-mail on an extremely secluded island?) While Breslin and Butler are charming, the real revelation is witnessing the oft-serious Foster ham it up in a role requires plenty of slapstick, fish-out-of-water moments. Although teens might roll their eyes at NIM'S unapologetically sugary scenes, younger children will enjoy the giddy mood present of the ISLAND.

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I often find that movies targeted towards children are just as enjoyable for the adults, but "Nim's Island" might be a rare exception for me.

Which isn't to say that there isn't a lot here that is fun and light-hearted - described best as a cross between the "Swiss Family Robinson" and "Home Alone", young Nim captivates the screen as she fearlessly explores her island in her father's absence, and protects the pristine beauty of her lovely home from the littering tourists who threaten to encroach on their way of life. Nim is completely charming, wonderfully vivacious, believably vulnerable, and disarmingly likable. Her character is possibly one of the most independent, empowered depiction of a young girl in movie memory, and for that alone the movie is to be congratulated for filling a much needed void.

Foster and Butler, too, are superb actors - as always - and Foster's sympathetic portrayal of a frightened agoraphobic thrust into the big, scary world in a desperate plea to rescue a small, alone girl is truly beautiful. Foster carefully mixes bravery, fear, and anger in perfectly measured amounts, leaving audiences cheering for more.

Children will enjoy the 'castaway' lifestyle portrayed and the easy joy of being isolated and empowered on a gorgeous island with dozens of animal 'friends' to pass the time. Adults, however, may find themselves impossibly distracted by the realities of the situation - the movie, taken seriously, is portraying that it is somehow healthy for a little girl to be completely isolated from all human contact outside of her father (who keeps reminding her how much like her deceased mother she is), who is so ill-prepared for this task that he doesn't even have an "in case of emergency, call..." plan in case Nim is left alone in an island accident. Apart from the isolation, Nim is also poorly served in the lack of a serviceable education for the situation - she hasn't, apparently, been taught how to disinfect cuts, which would seemingly be a crucial talent in an area completely lacking in basic medical care. This completely unhealthy situation comes to a head when a young tourist boy finally comes face-to-face with Nim and proclaims, in horror, that she is all alone - a climax that is apparently then happily discarded when the designated surrogate mother washes up to keep Nim-and-Dad company. All I could think was the coming adjustment as Nim has to learn to share - for the first time in her entire life - her father's attention with another human being.

Of course, these concerns are not to be taken even remotely seriously - this is light-hearted children's fare, as close to reality as flying carpets and genii. Children will likely find the adventure charming and captivating, and adults can probably enjoy it as long as they never slip into the error of taking the movie seriously, and just remembering that this is fantasy in its purest form.

~ Ana Mardoll

The girl and the agoraphobic Oct 26, 2009

Nim Russo (her mother "invented" the name before vanishing at sea, purportedly down the throat of a whale) has a life many kids might envy. She lives with her father, Jack, on an isolated South Sea island where they generate their own power, grow their own food, connect with the world via satphone and satellite Internet, and get a visit from the supply ship every so often; no one but its crew is allowed to know their location, and no one including the crew is allowed to step ashore. At 11 she's totally homeschooled (or "island-schooled," as she calls it), mostly by way of the many books they order, and associates only with her father and her pets, including a sea lion, a pelican, a sea turtle, and a spiny lizard. Jack is a marine biologist whose fixed obsession is the discovery of a new one-celled organism, to be named Protozoa Nim. One day he heads out to sea in their little sailboat to see if he can find it. Nim stays behind to rescue the little turtles about to hatch from her pet's nest. When a sudden storm cripples Jack's boat and leaves him unable to communicate with his daughter, and Nim finds her island about to be "invaded" by Buccaneer Tours, it's up to her to find a way to fend off the outsiders. For help she calls on Alex Rover, the world's greatest adventurer--who, unknown to her, is actually the creation of Alexandra Rover, a seriously agoraphobic San Francisco novelist. But when Alexandra discovers that her new cyberpal is an 11-year-old girl left alone on an island and coping with a 5" gash on her leg, she somehow finds the courage to conquer her fears and set out on a wild journey halfway around the world.

Nim, played by Abigail Breslin, is a child-heroine for today and one boys and girls alike should enjoy--cool under pressure, resourceful, self-sufficient and free. Jodie Foster manages to bring Alexandra to life in a slightly over-the-top way, with an exaggerated sort of humor that's unexpected given her previous roles. Gerard Butler plays a dual role--Jack and Alex, who's a combination of Indiana Jones, Richard Halliburton (see Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels), and Lawrence of Arabia. This is a fun family movie with a slightly improbable yet somehow plausible story. Recommended.

Nim's Island Aug 30, 2009

Nim's Island comes across with a clean, crisp transfer. Excellent sound and some very interesting special features. All in all, a pleasure to watch-good movie for kids and adults.

Just Because the Kids Laugh Doesn't Mean It's Funny Aug 25, 2009

Like any other genre, you can see some pretty bad films within the children's films niche. This ranks up with the best of the worst. The acting is ok, though Jodie Foster's attempts at slapstick tend not to come off that well -- I think she should stay away from physical comedy, if not comedy all together. And Abigail Breslin seems to have succumbed to the Dora the Explorer 'have all the characters shout their lines' method of acting. It has some not half bad camera work. What tanks the film is the writing/plot structure. It seems to be trying for the record for greatest number of active and unrelated or unfulfilled plot lines.

-- Jodie Foster plays an agoraphobic adventure writer who decides to venture out from San Francisco to a remote Pacific island, by plane, boat, and helicopter, to save Nim. But how Foster's bumbling appearance on an isolated island is supposed to help Nim in any way -- never mind help her save her father -- is beyond the plot conception: at no point does the plot actually believe Foster could help in any real way. And in the end, she has to be rescued by Nim. What then is the purpose of that plot line except for some lame slapstick? I don't do justice here to the irrelevance of Foster's character to Nim's plight, or the irrelevance of Foster's adventures to the film -- unless, that is, it's actually a film about Foster, not Nim, and I'm mis-reading it.

-- Gerard Butler, stranded on his wrecked boat, is ostensibly the driving motivation of the movie, as Nim is seeking aid to rescue him. Yet he ends up saving himself, with the help of Galileo the pelican, by miraculously building a raft in open sea _after_ his boat is sunk.

-- Nim calls on Foster for help (thinking Foster is actually her books' adventure hero), yet is utterly capable to handling everything by herself, including defending her island against tourist invaders(in a plot line that has nothing to do with the other stories, but serves to fill up half an hour of movie).

So we're supposed to think Nim needs help, when she's the most capable character in the movie. We're supposed to think Foster can help, when she's the most incapable character of the movie. And Gerard Butler, well, he's got a pelican helping him.

Anyway, a groaningly absurd, pointless, and (I mention in passing) logically flawed plot. It is unfortunate that my 1 1/2 year old daughter likes the movie. But she likes it for the primary tension: she understands Nim's father is missing. Unfortunately the screenwriters/director lost sight of that primary tension.

I have not read the book. And there are moments in the film -- as when Nim and the boy are talking about stories vs. reality -- where the threads of a more ideationally developed plot -- one that holds the whole film together -- might reside. But they are at best mal-formed teases of a better film.

One might say everything above is irrelevant to a child's movie, so long as the children like it. But I have to disagree. To say that is to say, essentially, "We don't care is you feed our children crap, just so long as they're smiling." And that's, in essence, is why Johnny can't read (to appropriate the phrase). Simply because the film is aimed at children does not give everyone involved a get out of jail free card for quality. The opposite should be the case. As said, my 1 1/2 year old is enjoying the DVD currently. Hopefully by the time she's 6 she'll have outgrown it.

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